Category: documentation

This document summarises the main duties and responsibilities of trustee-directors.

It is based on guidance supplied by the Charity Commission[1] and the NVCO[2].

2. Overview

Trustee-directors serve on the Board of AACT and together form its governing body. Trustee-directors have, and must accept, ultimate and legal responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and meeting the needs for which it has been set up. As AACT is also a Company Limited by Guarantee, the trustee-directors also serve as directors of the Company and must also ensure that the charity pursues its objectives and purposes as set out in its Memorandum of Association.

3. The Board and attendance at meetings

The Board of trustee-directors takes decisions collectively and meets as often as it must to in order to carry out its responsibilities. Typically that is four times each year and trustee-directors are, save for exceptional circumstances, expected to attend[3]. Unless otherwise authorised by the Board, three[4] trustee-directors are required for the Board to be quorate and decisions to be made.

4. Appointment and term of office

Save for people who are ineligible[5], the Board considers nominations for trustee-directors, which must be received in writing. Trustee-directors are elected to the Board. In accordance with Articles 24 and 25(1), one third of Trustee-directors must resign each year at the annual general meeting. Directors shall retire by rotation based on those who have held office longest since their last appointment. Trustee-directors may stand for re-election.

5. Remuneration, expenses and donations

Trustee-directors will not be paid any remuneration unless explicitly authorised by the Board and in accordance with Section 5(5) of the Memorandum of Association.

6. Compliance

Trustees must:

i. Ensure that the charity complies with charity law, and with the requirements of the Charity Commission as regulator; in particular ensure that the charity prepares reports on what it has achieved and Annual Returns and accounts as required by law.

ii. Ensure that the charity does not breach any of the requirements or rules set out in its governing document and that it remains true to the charitable purpose and objects set out there.

iii. Comply with the requirements of other legislation and other regulators (if any) which govern the activities of the charity.

iv. Act with integrity, and avoid any personal conflicts of interest or misuse of charity funds or assets.

7. Duty of prudence

Trustees must:

i. Ensure that the charity is and will remain solvent.

ii. Use charitable funds and assets reasonably, and only in furtherance of the charity’s objects.

[4] This is a requirement as set out in the Articles of Association, section 9(2).

[5] Trustee-directors must be over 18 years old and not having been disqualified as company directors, and/or been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or deception. In some cases, people beneficiaries may also be ineligible.

To the charity Access-ability Communications Technology (AACT for Children)

Please treat the enclosed gift of £ as a Gift Aid donation.

You must pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next) that is at least equal to the amount of tax that the charity or Community Amateur Sports Club will reclaim on your gifts for that tax year.

Donor’s details

Title Initial(s) Surname

Home address

Postcode Date

Signature

Please notify the charity if you:

Want to cancel this declaration.

Change your name or home address.

No longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains.

Tax claimed by the charity

The charity will reclaim 28p of tax on every £1 you gave up to 5 April 2008.

The charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 you give on or after 6 April 2008.

The Government will pay to the charity an additional 3p on every £1 you give between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2011. This transitional relief for the charity does not affect your personal tax position.

If you pay income tax at the higher rate, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self Assessment tax return if you want to receive the additional tax relief due to you.

We are a small organisation run mainly by volunteers. While we have named a set of people (normally two) to act as DSP and backup, we do not expect or intend you to be professional experts in the field of child, young person or vulnerable adult safeguarding, this would be disproportionate in the light of the way we work. What is required is that you know how to contact authorities that are experts in the relevant fields.

AACT works in partnership with other organisations and our policies include this note:

AACT is a small charity, currently with no premises or staff of its own. All our work is done in partnership with other organizations and our contact with beneficiaries and the public will occur on others’ premises and normally under the supervision of a member of the partner organization. In these cases it is important that you follow any safeguarding policies in place at the host organization, for example reporting any concerns to their designated person. If this is impossible in practice, then AACT’s Designated Safeguarding Person should be contacted.

Should you be contacted about a safeguarding issue, you should follow this procedure:

1. Make a written record of what you have been told, including dates and times, names and any other available information that might be relevant, including any other organisation or individuals involved.

2. Check with the person contacting you whether they have reported the issue through a partner organisation.

3. If possible, contact any partner organization concerned to liaise on reporting (but do not wait to do this if any allegation makes it possible a person is in immediate danger, in that case the safest route is to contact the police without delay)

4. If no other suitable authority is reporting the incident/allegation then you should do so to the relevant body. These can be found on the Berkshire Child Protection Procedures website (at the time of writing this can be found at: http://www.proceduresonline.com/berks)

5. Records must be stored and information kept confidential in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

6. HOWEVER, safety issues (particularly for children) override confidentiality. If you believe someone is in danger, alert authorities immediately, do not wait for permission to override confidentiality.

This template is based on the Volunteer Agreement proposed by Volunteer England as at July 2010. It may be worth checking there are no significant changes to this when drawing up a new agreement. It is very important to use wording which could not be interpreted as leading to a contract of employment. This includes: don’t use legalese; don’t imply any material reward to the volunteer (this includes not offering training unless it is directly needed by them in this volunteer role).

Volunteer Agreement for VOLUNTEER

This Volunteer Agreement describes the arrangement between Access-Ability Communications Technology (AACT) and you. We wish to assure you of our appreciation of your volunteering with us and will do the best we can to make your volunteer experience with us enjoyable and rewarding.

The organisation

Your role as a volunteer is as a position. It starts on date. (It may be helpful to the volunteer to mention a possible end date if this is a fixed-term project role, but Volunteer England does not recommend stating fixed times, so consider this and possibly discuss with the volunteer to help them plan their time). Your main Contact will be name.

The volunteering role described here is designed to help AACT in its current situation as a small, largely voluntary organisation realise one of its immediate objectives. This objective is to …….

You can expect AACT to

1. Induction and training

outline AACT’s mission and ways of working

provide relevant documentation, ….

2. Supervision, support and flexibility

organise meeting and working alongside main Contact to help….

be flexible in agreeing when you and main Contact will work together. Possibly outline here any constraints or things we are aware of which we’ll take into account

be clear about what tasks we’d like you to do

make you aware of the insurance cover available while undertaking the voluntary role

make you aware of relevant Health and Safety policies.

3. Expenses

pay, if you wish, your travel expenses to get from your home (state here where you understand this to be at the time) to us at the standard rail/bus fare rates if you provide us with suitable documentation including receipts showing the actual expense you incurred.

AACT expects you to

help it fulfil its aims by acting as a volunteer

perform your volunteering role to the best of your ability

follow the relevant area Health and Safety policies while in AACT’s office and elsewhere on University of Reading property. Should it be necessary to undertake the role elsewhere, main Contact must make any relevant Health and Safety policies clear.

maintain the confidential information of the organisation and of its clients (if there are special conditions, for example the volunteer will have access to sensitive personal date, then refer to the Information Policy to judge whether a confidentiality agreement may need to be signed)

meet the time commitments and standards which have been mutually agreed to and to give reasonable notice so other arrangements can be made when this is not possible

make yourself familiar with our Volunteer Policy (available on our website) and raise any issues you feel unsure about with main Contact.

This agreement is binding in honour only, is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of either party. Neither of us intends any employment relationship to be created either now or at any time in the future.

Schedule of work to be undertaken

The main objective is to (make this and any secondary objectives as clear as possible).

Your role is to

list tasks as explicitly as possible, but leave room for them to alter as time goes on or the project progresses

Currently your normal place of volunteering is expected to be main place (if there is one). Outline possible variations to this.

Agreed by the Board Winter 2010-11. Next review due on or before: Winter 2013-14

AACT does not have its own employees. Rather, it is helped towards achieving its aims by people holding various other types of role. The aim of this short document is to list the Charity’s policies relating to: trustee-directors, volunteers, paid consultants, student interns, organizations.

The documents giving further information relating to each role are named here. They are published through the Charity’s website. While the roles differ, all outputs must relate directly to AACT’s mission and priorities. Anyone doing work for/on behalf of AACT should enter into an appropriate agreement including to abide by any relevant AACT policies.

Trustee-Directors

Directors are elected by the members of the Company as detailed in the Memorandum and Articles, simultaneously becoming a trustee of the Charity. All must follow the agreed policies documented in Responsibilities and duties of Trustee-Directors.

Volunteers

The Charity and the Volunteer must abide by the policies documented in the Volunteer policy. Apart from ad hoc one-off help (e.g. help at a fundraising sale) there must be a Volunteer agreement in place which lists the activities the Volunteer will undertake. The agreement must have the approval of a Trustee-Director before any activity commences.

Paid consultants

Individual’s circumstances differ and there will be occasion when special contractual conditions will apply. However, the type of agreement we normally require with a self-employed consultant is shown in the Consultancy agreement template. The outcomes expected from the consultancy and the payment terms must be clearly agreed and the agreement signed by a Trustee-Director on behalf of AACT and by the Consultant before work commences.

Student interns

An individual associated with AACT may be prepared to take on a student intern. The situation will differ from that of a volunteer in that there will be some agreement with the student’s host institution (for example: on giving feedback on performance). Whether the individual concerned is prepared to spend the time on supervision, monitoring etc required is a matter for them but as in other cases, any agreement with both student and institution must be clearly understood and agreed by a Trustee-Director before commencement. Particular care will be exercised in making any agreement on accepting an intern to ensure all parties understand there is no payment associated with the role and to be clear that the student’s institution covers insurance issues appropriately.

Organizations

We understand that organizations providing goods or services may have their own form of contract and we therefore do not have an AACT ‘standard’. Any contract must clearly state the goods or services to be provided, must be clear on matters such as insurance and must be agreed and signed by a Trustee-Director before commencement of delivery of any of the goods or services.